Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

 

Cultivators are a source of pollutants. Basically, each of them are literal walking nuclear reactors, their presence contaminates the environment. Powerful beasts are more or less the same. The so-called ‘aura’ of cultivators or beasts is actually a type of radiation. If a Hunter could not resist or somehow penetrate the radiation of a beast’s, then it is almost certain that the hunter would not be able to fight back. 

Each radiation would affect the material world differently. A lightning-path radiation would probably be something like magnetic attraction/repulsion or static electricity, an ice and snow-path radiation would reduce the temperature around the source, while a sword-path radiation would manifest in a sharp way, such as being gazed upon would feel like being traced by the edge of a keen blade. So on and so forth.

A fire-path beast will produce fire-path radiation, and a water-path beast will produce water-path radiation, that is common sense. Since the chicken is a year beast, it naturally produces time-path radiation. 

“Time-path radiation could manifest in various ways, such as slowing, accelerating, or stopping time…” Mordred deduced as he ran towards the two fighting beasts on all four like a real wolf. Currently, his movement speed almost reached the speed of sound thanks to the sound-path killer move, [Nightcore].

Just as he had expected, the rank 2 spider is merely a corpse. The trypophobia-inducing holes in its lower abdomen is actually because it was made into a wasp breeding nest. There was a rank 2 wasp controlling the corpse from an unknown location. 

Don’t be mistaken, the spider corpse is really big and powerful. Even when crawling normally, it has a 4 meter tall and almost 10 meter long body. At the very least, the 5 meter tall chicken whose body is covered in golden scales instead of feathers wouldn’t be able to overpower it with its big body alone.  

Of course, Mordred has yet to meet with the living version of that spider as it was a rank 2 creature. He doesn’t know what kind of beast classification it was as he always maintains a safe distance from any rank 2 lifeform in the underground passage (with the exception of the chicken year beast) because each of them were too strong and a waste of time. 

He saw the chicken pecking the spider in retaliation, each attack producing sonic booms. The attack itself broke the speed of sound, but the spider doesn’t seem to register the pain. There are some areas where the spider’s hairy flesh were gouged, its flesh which seemed like it was made out of some type of biomineral rotting at the speed visible to the naked eye.   

“Time-path radiation… is it targeting lifespan, or directly time itself?” Mordred analyzes as he gets closer. Because he had achieved quasi-immortality, he does not have a theoretical lifespan limit, any lifespan-based attack is useless against him and his mechanical body is quite resistant to time unlike biologicals. Still, Mordred needs to gauge the strength of the chicken to estimate its strength and weaknesses.  

To test his hypothesis, the plates on his shoulder opened up, micro missiles the size of a man’s finger were launched en masse. There are two types of missiles: incendiary and crono-sensor missiles to detect the change of time. 

When the missiled made contact with the chicken and spider, they exploded in bright silver chemical fire. They did almost nothing to the chicken due to its strong resistance, but Mordred was able to identify the changes of time from the input of his chrono-sensors and the silver chemical fire.

“It’s not lifespan but real time instead.” The silver fire was a type of chemical that burns relatively long like a napalm. Yet, it only lasted a few seconds as their fuel was completely used up.

The chemical fire is roasting the spider’s biomineral corpse because the accelerated time increases the flame’s potency. Its bioenergy has also been depleted by the parasites within its body, lowering its defense further. The spider’s lower abdomen suddenly exploded in rotten blood and gore when the corpse could no longer handle the burden of the chicken’s retaliation. Hundreds of wasps of various sizes are being born from the corpse, a portion of them reveal rank 1 presence.

These wasps are strange. Each of them are extremely hairy like the spider that they came out of, and they do not sting the chicken with their butts but spray some sort of white sticky liquid. The sticky liquid was like a paralyzing web, they slowly constrict the chicken but they are rapidly corroded by time. Still, the endless number of the wasps allowed them to continuously bind the chicken down despite their low offensive power. 

“Genetic usurpation? Did the wasp steal those traits from the spider?” Mordred was a little shocked as he ran in a circle, trying to find an opening for both sides. The time-path environment is quite dangerous to rank 1 like him, but he was able to process environmental data rapidly due to his high computation power. Also, his AT-Field is protecting his Lupusrazor frame from time dilation effect, his time-path attainment allowed him to blend with the environment and gain home field advantage like the Chicken year beast.

From his observation, the unknown wasp queen was able to kill the unknown spider and use its corpse to entangle the chicken. The chicken might be able to endure the onslaught of hundreds of wasps, but it will use up a chunk of its energy. 

At this moment, the three dimensional river of timeforce surged, they are being stimulated by the chicken. Droves of wasps with less than rank 1 power are being corroded by time while those that survived are constantly wearing down the chicken. Since Mordred is circling around the chicken to analyze its characteristics, he was able to get away from the encirclement of the wasps that came out of the spider corpse. But there are swarms of wasps approaching from outside the time-path environment. 

The new arrivals have various forms, not limited by their hairiness.

Some of the wasps have black scales similar to a Giant Kararan Serpent on their bodies, others have a black pearl on their butts that gleamed with petrification rays, a group of them are leaking some sort of poison from their butts, a special few generate electric charges from the flap of their wings, so on and so forth.

“These wasps are transformation-path lifeforms…” Mordred realized as he got attacked by the wasps due to being too close with the chicken. Those wasps are almost as big as a human and their numbers are not a trifling matter. Perhaps, his identity as a rank 1 lifeform lowered the threat level towards the wasp queen, but he was having it easy because he thrived in fighting against a lot of weak or same-level opponents. 

“The concept of enslavement-path is not limited through a specific path, therefore most enslavement-path cultivators are typically also classified with other paths, either elemental or conceptual. That being the case, the unknown rank 2 wasp queen might be a transformation-path lifeform just like its slaves, but she evolved to dominate her kin…” Mordred speculated while defending himself from petrification rays, electric discharge, poisonous liquid and others.   

Transformation-path was a special path that was quite similar with enslavement-path, they are typically classified with other paths. However, because it represents the embodiment of change and evolution, not every life form that could transform into another shape or form is considered as transformation-path lifeforms.  

Transformation-path lifeforms are those that would change depending on the circumstances, and the swarm-type wasp beasts are exactly that. With a change of their diet, they transformed on a genetic level, allowing them to usurp some traits of their food. Since transformation is a path of evolution, then at some point, one of the wasps will eventually tread the path of evolution towards leading its kin, thus this swarm of wasps was formed.  

“If these wasps consumed the chicken year beast, will their queen be able to gain time-path attainment?” Mordred asked himself a question while being occupied with the wasps. 

As stated before, transformation-path lifeforms rely on their transformation. The ability to alter one’s physique into something that would benefit them might seem overpowered, but it was actually not.

Transformation-path attainment governs how well one can change into a desired form; it does not allow one to magically gain the attainment level of other paths. If for example, the wasps consume a dragon corpse, would they become able to use dragon-path methods? 

The answer is no. The wasps might take similar form of dragon body parts, but not the corresponding benefit of a dragon simply because dragons are too unique. Unless the wasps consume an ungodly amount of dragon flesh, then it wouldn’t be possible.

Well, perhaps using a dragon as a metric of comparison is unfair as they are considered as one of the most powerful races ever existed, but at the very least, it can represent the idea.

That being said, there’s no guarantee that the wasp won’t be able to gain time-path attainment from the chicken. After all, Mordred was capable of doing so with the souls he devoured. There’s all sorts of lifeforms out there, thinking the wasps won't advance to the next level through consuming other beast’s flesh are too naive. 

“If my deduction is correct, then the wasp can only advance after killing and devouring the chicken’s flesh. The wasp’s learning ability should be less than a rank 2 cultivator…” Mordred speculated as he sent forth a wave of [Finger Whistle] through his claws to the annoying wasps. Of the three versions of [Triple Extreme Sound], Finger Whistle was the one who had a ranged capability, it contains the profundity of sword-path. 

Since each of his claws is a vibroblade, his attacks are amplified greatly. The wasps are too weak against Mordred’s sound-path method, most would get shredded before being corroded by the time-dilated environment. Over half of the souls of the wasps killed in the area are automatically drawn into Mordred’s Soul Phylactery, he was content with the status quo as his plan was to balance both sides.

The wasps and the chicken… they are too strong for Mordred to take on alone. If he can force the wasp to deplete their number to weaken the chicken, he would benefit greatly. 

Thankfully, his deduction was correct. His presence and interference on the wasp’s swarming tactic alleviate the pressure on the chicken greatly, allowing the chicken to retaliate with greater fervor. 

“If the status quo continues, I bet the wasp’s number would be greatly diminished which forces the queen to come out personally… but you’re not that dumb, right?” Mordred focused on his senses as his spear-like tail produced the same attack as his clawed hands. Each attack would shred the wasps that got too close to him and he was able to produce three [Finger Whistle] at once.

Mordred’s Lupusrazor frame was like a spear-tailed lycanthrope. His AT-Field Structural Fortification allowed him to swim in the lifespan-unfriendly environment. Due to how natural he moved in the time-dilated environment; the chicken identifies Mordred as a dog year beast.

Since year beasts are the predator of other year beasts, it was natural that the chicken attacked him. 

Whoosh! A Flashback Magic Eye ray was focused on Mordred. If Valerie hadn't warned him about this, he would be stunned by submerging his sea of consciousness with his past memories. In this situation, being stunned for one second was crucial as one hit from the chicken’s beak would completely obliterate Mordred’s Lupusrazor frame and his mortal shell. 

However, he has already put up a countermeasure for it. He was merely stunned for a brief 0.17 second before he woke up from his flashback. “[Temporal Firewall] is effective, but can be improved… rank 1 information-path soul arts, [Temporal Firewall]!” He immediately updated the soul arts and activated it once more. Through this method, he has gained immunity against the chicken’s Flashback Magic Eye unless the beast could modify it. 

Considering the intelligence of the beast, it wouldn’t be able to alter its methods during battle, but even so, Mordred has already drafted 3 possible solutions if the chicken is miraculously able to do it.

This was the power of [Exemplary] attainment level in time-path. 

[Ordinary] allows one to use their method with 100% success chance. This is the attainment level of rank 0 Apprentices.

[Master] allows one to bypass certain limitations such as being able to streamline activation sequence by shortening, delaying or even turning it into instant activation, et cetera. This is the attainment level of rank 1 Masters.

[Grandmaster] allows one to generate intuition, which would be extremely helpful in modifying one’s method during battle. Typically, Grandmasters would alter their methods during each activation, allowing them to stay effective against others of the same rank. This is the attainment level of rank 2 Grandmasters.

[Legendary] allows the mimicry or replication of other paths. This was basically Grandmaster’s ability being amplified greatly. During battle, they would be able to learn the opponent’s methods and alter their own, allowing them to be even more effective. At this level, combat wouldn’t only be about one’s raw strength but also intelligence, knowledge and accumulation. This is the attainment level of rank 3 Legendaries.

As for [Exemplary], they are the attainment level required to undergo a Protogenic Ascension. At the very least, becoming a rank 4 Paragon requires one to grasp the laws of that path.

And so, Mordred was able to form countermeasures for the chicken’s methods quite easily. For a Magus, the proverb ‘knowledge is power’ is absolutely true. As long as his computation power was enough, he could deduce his opponent’s methods during intense combat.

In the meantime, Mordred was killing the wasps that got stunned by the Chicken's Magic Eye. Of course, he also multitasks to suck on any timeforce that he could. Every single milliliter cubic of timeforce is a precious resource that could be used to weaken the chicken, his entire body is inhaling timeforce.

The year beast was annoyed at the dog year beast and the wasp. The three dimensional timeforce river is circulated around its giant body once more, they are rapidly being inhaled by the chicken to activate its bloodline ability. 

The chicken crowed¹The sound that chicken made. Y'know... I crow, you crow, he/she/me crow. Crow, crowing, crowed. Crowmbolgy, the study about crow. It's first grade, y'all. Alright, I don't know that in englisch so I googled it, sorry. in a loud voice. The sound wave produced by the chicken contains sound-path profundity that would shock and affect the lifespan of everything in a large radius. The chicken was smart enough to target the wasp first as they are more threatening to it than the dog.

Mordred estimates that any biologicals would suffer 100 to 200 years loss in lifespan in that attack depending on their resistance to time-path, but since Mordred has no lifespan, he was naturally immune.

The same couldn't be said regarding the wasps, though. They were mostly killed as they are already old due to spending more than a few minutes in this time-dilated environment that accelerates age progression. Even if they do not die of old age, they mostly die of starvation. 

After all, the accelerated time rate also accelerates their metabolism. The frightening effect of a time-path environment would be more severe when the time dilation affects one’s body and mind separately. The mind would think the body is currently fine, but the body has already starved or tired beyond their limit.

“Oof… Now I need to fight against the chicken alone…” Mordred glanced at the direction where he thought the queen wasp was hiding. Naturally, he wouldn’t fight against the chicken alone. “Come here you little shit… Rank 1 sound-path killer move, [Song of Subjugation], [Song of Enticement], [Song of Allure], [Estrus Song]²This song, [Hate Reaction], [Induce Misophonia], [Call of Provocation]!”

Mordred was using the specialty of Multicast by activating multiple methods at once through overlapping sound waves on top of each other. His songs are either to enslave, charm, render biologicals into heat, focus the agro on him, or something similar. Needless to say, the rank 2 wasp queen has great resistance to them because of Mordred’s relatively lower cultivation level.

Yet, what Mordred couldn’t accomplish with quality is made up in quantity. 

The wasp queen was planning to let Mordred fight it out with the chicken. After they both become weary from the battle, she would swoop in to reap the greatest benefit. However, Mordred’s songs are an insult to her proud self. She might not notice it herself, but she was actually affected by his song even if it was merely a little.  

The wasp queen sends forth its elite wasps, each are almost as big as Mordred’s Lupusrazor frame. These black wasps were eerie and have a great similarity to a wasp that Mordred encountered once when he was wearing his first Mortal Shell, Shion.

“Giant Lanian Wasp?” 

Giant Lanian Wasp was the defense specialist of Lord Mage Mitsubachi’s Wasp Legion. He was a senior professor of the Southeast Hartina Hunter Academy. It was unexpected that Mordred had met something similar.

“The queen evolved not only to enslave its own species but also lifeforms with the same group… or not. I detected the presence of parasites within these wasps. Most probably, the wasp queen evolved to dominate within it’s family-level or genus-level instead of group or order-level… using her parasitic wasp larvae, she was able to dominate wasp from other family…” Mordred definitely couldn’t fight directly against them as the 10 Giant Lanian Wasp in the swarm are giving off rank 2 pressure to its surroundings. These giant wasps have a thick and sturdy carapace which makes his [Finger Whistle] useless. 

Mordred retreated closer into the Tributary as the time dilation is more severe in that location. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good idea as the chicken was triggered with his action.

“Heh… You’re quite smart, for a chicken… but it’s too late. I’ve already grasped your weakness…” The reason why he approached the Tributary was because the chicken’s egg was nearby. When he was circling around the chicken and the wasp swarm, he was investigating the time-path environment to get the chicken’s egg. 

With Mordred hauling the golden egg which was as big as a human and weighed a few hundred kilograms, the Chicken lost the initiative. It must protect the dog who stole its egg from the wasp swarm, otherwise the egg will be broken by the wasps!   

“Let’s see… If this continues for 30 minutes, Paimon will be able to take a clean shot.” He had never forgotten his goal. It has always been the chicken and the Tributary. The wasp queen was merely an opportunity that can be used to weaken the year beast so that its energy reserve was low enough that temporal bullets would be effective on it.

 

…

 

At the same time, on the edge of the time-dilated environment, underneath an unnoticeable crack covered by pebbles. The space was deep to hide the 4 meter long barrel but it is bit too cramped to move around. Though, the devil’s mission does not rely on too many movements so he didn't really need a lot of space to begin with.

Paimon was looking through the scope of Misaka Mikoto, the sniper-type heavy railgun. His tuxedo is woven from a special material that won’t get dirty. Although he was staying still, his energy consumption was heavy because he had to overdrive his augmented devil brain to make deductions. After all, the enemy is a rank 2 time-path year beast; its simple movement is almost as fast as the speed of sound.

Now that the Giant Lanian Wasps are in the equation, the amount of variables that he needed to calculate increased significantly. 

“This movement pattern… Where’s the Spell Cards and Arcane Artillery that you’re so fond of? Can it be that…  you cannot use magic? No wonder you wanted me to serve as a sniper…” Paimon instantly realized why Mordred had not used any magic spell in the battle. All he did was using missiles and ninjutsu, which was a branch of Soul Arts. Yet, he knew the Devil King who was also known as a sovereign of magic in this world wouldn’t be that weak without magic.

“Heh. I guess my dear king Mordred wanted to prolong the battle to wear down the wasp queen too. Let’s see, it should take… half an hour. An acceptable decision… Though, you should’ve commanded me to handle the wasp queen... It’s been a while since I’ve eaten fresh souls from the material world and it’s not like you couldn’t kill the chicken if you’re going all-out.” Paimon continues to watch Mordred fighting the rank 2 beasts through the scope.

“My dear king. You’re too stingy with the souls…” Paimon complained under his breath.